1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and particularly, to a dust collection unit OF a vacuum cleaner, which has a first dust collection part for filtering relatively large foreign objects and a second dust collection part for filtering relatively small foreign objects, the first and second dust collection parts being separated from each other. In addition, the present invention further relates to a dust collection unit for a vacuum cleaner, which is designed in a proper size and shape so that it can be easily mounted in a main body of the vacuum cleaner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vacuum cleaner is used to clean a room or other spaces by sucking air containing foreign objects and filtering the foreign object using vacuum pressure generated therein. In order to filter the foreign objects contained in the sucked air, a dust collection unit is provided in the vacuum cleaner and a paper filter designed with a predetermined structure is provided in the dust collection unit.
The paper filter is formed of porous material so that the foreign objects are filtered while the air containing the foreign objects passes through the filter.
However, since it is inconvenient to reuse the paper filter and it is difficult to clean the filter, a cyclone type vacuum cleaner has been recently proposed. In the cyclone type vacuum cleaner, outer air containing foreign objects is sucked through a suction nozzle is directed to a collection chamber through a suction guide. Since the suction guide extends in a tangential direction of the collection chamber, the sucked air containing the foreign objects spirally rotates in the collection chamber, in the course of which relatively heavy foreign objects falls downward. Then, the air passes through a filter member, in the course of which relatively small foreign objects contained in the air are filtered by the filter.
However, when the filter member formed of a porous filter is combined with the cyclone unit, the problem of periodically cleaning the filter still remains. When the foreign objects clogs the porous filter, an airflow rate is reduced, thereby deteriorating the operational efficiency of the vacuum cleaner.
To solve the above problems, in recent years, a multi-cyclone type dust collection unit in which the cyclone unit is provided in plurality to generate a plurality of cyclone air flows so that the foreign objects contained in the air can be filtered by only the cyclone air flows, has been developed.
However, in order to generate a variety of cyclone airflows, a relatively large space must be defined in the multi-cyclone type dust collection unit. In this case, an overall size of the dust collection unit increases, thereby undesirably increasing an overall volume of the vacuum. Therefore, it is not easy for the user to handle the vacuum cleaner.